No surprise to me that Dartford lost, though, as they did have Louise “where were you when H*rsham scored?!” Wells in goal :-)
*** After 1420 days, 24 rounds and 29 FA Vase games unbeaten, Whitley Bay - the winners of the aforementioned competition for the last three years - are out. Bearing in mind that visits - with Northwood Mark - to see the Bay play Vase games at Chertsey Town and Herne Bay have been among my favourite away days in recent seasons, I am gutted. I was even planning a visit 'Ooop North' in early March, if they had advanced and been drawn at home.
Sad times.
Incidentally, Herne Bay are still in this year's competition and will play at Shortwood United in the 6th Round. I remember that MUFC beat Shortwood at York Road in the FA Cup, en route to the notorious capitulation at H*rsham in 2007/08.
Meanwhile, the side that ended Whitley Bay's (presumably) record-breaking run last weekend - West Auckland Town - are another team with Maidenhead United cup connections. On 6th February 1960 the 'West' won 2-1 at York Road in the Amateur Cup, in front of a post-war record crowd of 5597 (!). My Dad tells me that his father was a West Auckland Town fan and he strongly suspects that his old man (who by this time had re-located from County Durham to NW London) was at the game, nearly twenty years prior to his son marrying a Maidonian.
It's like a non-league six degrees of separation!
The line “it’s depressing to be reduced to mere consumers whose only right of redress is to reject the thing they love” certainly resonates.
Of course, one could argue that fans of professional clubs, especially those playing in the upper echelons of English football, have been “mere consumers” for quite a while now.
In the past, I would've suggested they instead follow their local non-league side.
In the past.
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